Has anyone tried colloidal silver? Type the heading into Google and you'll find lots of interesting sites. It looks very promising as an alternative to the usual antibiotics for pseudomonas and although there are no studies into the long-term use of silver,

I'd happily be a gineau pig!

I've written to the author of one article to ask if he has done any more research.

I've also been reading about the nasty side effects of ciproflaxin, levofloxacin etc, and if there's an alternative way of controlling/clearing pseudomonas infections then I'm up for it!

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I was interested in your post about colloidal silver as we would all like an alternative to the horrible cipro. What I found was very disturbing. The FDA in America have banned its use and taken action against several companies for making false claims. It can lead to poisoning which turns the skin silver blue and is permanent. There has been no accredited or published research on it.

If you would like to help to get us a better drug to fight pseudomonas I suggest that you nag your consultant and NICE to approve Pulmaquin. This is inhaled cipro. I took part in the first trial in 2010 and it worked like magic with no side effects. The FDA are fast tracking its licence for non cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis in America. As you know, COPD patients use many of the same antibiotics as us. This is the first good news on the drug fight against pseudomonas for a long time and yet it is being kept very quiet, I suspect because of the cost.

The benefit of inhaled drugs lies in the fact that they go directly to the lungs and not through the blood stream. Of course, there is always the risk that the lungs won't like them, as mine with tobi and colomycin.

I have had bronchiectasis since I was 3 ( 62 years) and experience has taught me that. I would rather go with a national agency which is answerable for its actions rather than salesmen who make spurious claims disguised as scientific evidence. They are truly out to get your money.

However, if you go for it and it works, please let me know. I would be delighted to find such a simple solution to the pseudomonas.

Pseudomonas is a 'bug'; very prevalent in the atmosphere (according to my consultant anyway). Healthy lungs can breathe it out easily but if it 'settles' it will start to cause more serious lung problems. It is also resistant to all but a few antibiotics hence why it crops up frequently as an issue for people with illnesses like bronchiectasis or others with damaged lungs.

I wouldn't pretend by any means to be overly knowedgeable about it but I think different people have different experiences of it. I have recurring infection but can generally shift it with oral antibiotic. I know of other people though that have to go on drips & have far more trouble with it than I've had.